State lawmakers are back in Indianapolis to continue work on this year’s legislative session, after an uncommon early start in December to address redistricting.
Now, they’re pushing through with other business. As of the deadline, lawmakers from both houses had filed more than 700 bills for consideration during this shorter session, which could finish by the end of February.
Representatives and senators from Clark and Floyd counties have put their name to legislation on issues including health care and food assistance, child care, immigration, taxes and changes to voting and elections.
Immigration and immigrants
Republican Senate Majority Floor Leader Chris Garten filed priority legislation last week with Senate Bill 1, which he said in a news release would call for "rigorous verification” of immigration status for people to receive Medicaid or SNAP benefits. Applicants who can’t verify they’re in the U.S. legally would be referred to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
"The days of asking hardworking Hoosiers to subsidize lawlessness are over," Garten said in the release. "Our public safety net exists to support our most vulnerable citizens — not those who have broken our laws to enter the country. If you are here illegally, you are disqualified from receiving Hoosier tax dollars, and we will report you to federal authorities. It is that simple."
Garten is also listed as an author of Senate Bill 76, which would increase immigration enforcement and prohibit employers from “recklessly or intentionally hiring or employing an unauthorized alien.”
House Bill 1422, authored by Republican Rep. Zach Payne, would require certain state agencies prioritize U.S. citizens and nationals in the hiring process, if the applicants are equally qualified.
Voting and elections
House Bill 1218, authored by Republican Rep. Ed Clere with Democrat Wendy Dant Chesser as a coauthor, would eliminate straight-ticket voting in elections.
As of December, Indiana was one of only six states that allows voters to choose multiple members of a political party on their ballot by checking a box. That doesn’t apply to races where there can be more than one winner, like local at-large races. But the competing House Bill 1377, authored by Payne, would allow a straight-ticket selection to count for those seats.
For the 2024 presidential election, 60% of Floyd County voters and nearly 40% of Clark County voters cast straight-party ballots.
Clere’s House Bill 1256 would require county clerks to publish campaign finance reports.
Garten is one of the authors of Senate Bill 12, which would prevent ranked-choice voting from being used in Indiana elections.
Republican Sen. Gary Byrne is one of the authors of a bill that would extend the time a circuit court clerk must keep election materials, such as sealed ballots, from under two years to five years.
Child care and health care
Dant Chesser brought a bill that would allow child care facilities to work together under a multiple employer welfare arrangement for employee benefits.
And House Bill 1401 would help families pay for child care through establishment of an employee child care assistance partnership program.
Clere, a coauthor on both of Dant Chesser’s bills, also coauthored a bill requiring the Indiana Department of Health to file annual reports comparing infant and maternal care data to information from 2021, before abortion restrictions went into effect.
The reports would have to include the number of births and still births, infant and maternal deaths, investigations by the Indiana Department of Child Services and whether access to maternal and infant health care has decreased since the near-total ban.
Clere authored House Bill 1012, which creates the Medicaid home and community based services waiver waiting list fund, to provide support for things such as care planning, independence and stabilization to prevent institutionalization.
Taxes
Clere coauthored House Bill 1259 which is aimed at addressing 2025’s SEA1, a measure that has drawn concern from local leaders over how it will impact their tax revenues. Other lawmakers have also filed bills that would amend the law.
The law provides additional property tax credits and restructures local income taxes, allowing cities and towns to adopt their own rather than be under the umbrella of the county-wide rate, up to a certain cap. Some local leaders say the change could give counties more than they need, while keeping cities and towns from getting adequate funds.
House Bill 1259, which Clere coauthored, would allow municipalities to adopt an additional local income tax if the county hasn’t reached its 1.2% cap.
Clere also authored a bill calling for creating a task force to study issues related to property assessments.
It would review approaches from other states, and the extent to which existing methods have led to inaccurate assessments.
In contrast, Payne is a coauthor of legislation that would abolish property taxes altogether. It includes options to replace the lost revenue.
Other issues
Local lawmakers have also filed or support other legislation on a variety of other issues this session:
- Garten is one author of a bill that would allow people condemned to death to die by firing squad, if lethal injection drugs are not available or if the person chooses this method.
- He also authored a bill that would prevent the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission from approving electric utility rate and charge increases based on the utility’s cost of providing service to data centers.
- Byrne and Garten authored a bill that would reverse birth certificate changes “back to the originating sex.” It would require county jails and the Indiana Department of Correction to house people according to their sex.
- Byrne filed a bill banning face coverings during certain public assemblies, with exceptions. It would not apply to police or emergency medical service workers.
- Dant Chesser filed legislation to help first-time home buyers by establishing a savings program administered by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.
- Payne seeks to restrict certain additives in food, including Red 40, a food dye commonly found in candy, cereal and drinks.
- Republican Rep. Karen Engleman coauthored a bill to strengthen criminal penalties for battery against certain health care and school employees.
More information on the legislative session is available at iga.in.gov.
Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County.
